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Sierra de Aracena

Huelva, Spain · Spain

A range of chestnut woods and dehesas in northern Huelva, a Biosphere Reserve, with twenty-eight white villages scattered through the forest. Here the Iberian pig that gives Jabugo its name is raised, one of the very few rural mosques left standing in Spain survives, and beneath Aracena opens the first cave Spain ever opened to tourism, in 1914. It is one of the greenest regions in Andalusia, and that surprises almost everyone who arrives.

3 days2 nights173 km9 stopsBest season: Autumn, for the chestnut woods, when the range changes colour and the mushrooms come up. Spring is good too. Summer is hot, though less so than the rest of Huelva thanks to the altitude.

Day 1The cave, the llanos and the humanist Day 2Chestnuts, fountains and acorns Day 3A mosque, a castle and the border

Day 1 · The cave, the llanos and the humanist

Aracena, Linares and Alájar · 26 km

Benjamín Núñez González — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Aracena and the Gruta de las Maravillas

nature

Beneath the castle hill lies a cave of three levels of galleries, with lakes and formations that have been growing for millennia. It was found in the late 19th century and opened to the public in 1914: the first show cave in Spain. Above stand the castle of Muslim origin and the Castillo church, which tradition attributes to the Templars.

Tip

The visit is guided, in groups and at an assigned time. Book or buy your ticket first thing, because the day's places run out. It is cool and damp inside: take a long sleeve even if it is thirty degrees outside.

15 min to the next stop · 8 km

Basotxerri — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Linares de la Sierra

heritage

Streets of cobbled slopes with llanos, decorative paved panels that each house has in front of its door, drawn with stones of different colours. On the square, the fountain-washhouse and an old bullring that now serves as the village square.

Tip

The llanos were made and kept by the residents themselves, each one their own. Look down as you walk: no two are alike.

20 min to the next stop · 5 km

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Alájar and the Peña de Arias Montano

history

Above the village rises a crag where in the 16th century Benito Arias Montano withdrew, the humanist Philip II charged with directing the Antwerp Polyglot Bible. According to tradition, the king came all the way here to visit him. Today there is a sanctuary, a chapel and views taking in half the range.

Tip

Drive up to the crag, two kilometres from the village, but go down to the old town afterwards: Alájar is among the best preserved villages in the region and almost everyone stays up top only.

Day 2 · Chestnuts, fountains and acorns

Castaño del Robledo, Galaroza and Jabugo · 51 km

Camster — CC BY-SA 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Castaño del Robledo

nature

One of the highest villages in the range, ringed by chestnut woods that turn everything ochre in autumn. It has an unfinished 18th-century church, enormous for a village of two hundred people: it was begun and never completed.

Tip

The Enchanted Forest route starts here, towards Fuenteheridos and Galaroza. If you are only going to walk once on this trip, make it this one.

10 min to the next stop · 5 km

Basotxerri — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Fuenteheridos and Galaroza

culture

Two villages side by side and full of water. In Fuenteheridos the Twelve Spouts fountain rises in the middle of the square; in Galaroza the Nine Spouts fountain has its own festival, the Jarritos, in which on 6 September the whole village soaks itself with buckets.

Tip

If you pass through Galaroza on 6 September, assume you will end up drenched. It is not optional: they soak anyone who sets foot in the street.

15 min to the next stop · 10 km

Jose Losada - Fotografía — CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Jabugo

gastronomy

The village that gives its name to the designation of origin of the range's Iberian ham. The pigs are raised loose in the dehesa eating acorns, and the hams cure in natural drying lofts using the mountain air.

Tip

There are guided visits to the dehesa and a curing loft, with a tasting at the end. They are booked in advance and do not run every day: check dates before planning your day.

Day 3 · A mosque, a castle and the border

Almonaster, Cortegana and Aroche · 96 km

Marc Ryckaert — CC BY-SA 4.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Almonaster la Real

history

Inside the fortress, on top of the hill, a 10th-century rural mosque survives practically intact: horseshoe arches, an oriented mihrab and columns reused from an earlier building. It is one of the very few rural mosques left standing in Spain.

Tip

Leave the car below and walk up through the cork oaks: fifteen minutes, and the best views of the range are on that path. And note that beside the mosque there is a bullring: they have coexisted for centuries.

15 min to the next stop · 8 km

Cadoalla — CC BY-SA 3.0 es (Wikimedia Commons)

Cortegana

history

A 13th-century castle raised by Sancho IV to watch the Portuguese border, and among the best preserved in the whole range. Inside there is a museum and, in August, the entire village turns into a medieval market for a few days.

Tip

You can walk the castle inside and climb to the battlements. From up there you see the Portuguese line, which is exactly what it was built for.

15 min to the next stop · 16 km

Francisco Antunes — CC BY 2.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Aroche

culture

One of the westernmost villages in the range, right up against Portugal. It has an Almohad fortress whose courtyard is, once again, the bullring, and a rosary museum with thousands of rosaries donated by people from all over the world, among them a pope and several heads of state.

Tip

The rosary museum is one of those strange and wonderful things that only exist in a small village. Do not expect it to be spectacular; expect it to be disconcerting.

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